.NET, Xamarin, and mobile software development

A BLOG BY DAN HERMES

Our Award-Winning Mobile App

23 October 2014No Comment

We’re proud to announce that PCR Essentials, a mobile app we developed for Android using Xamarin, was awarded a Davey Gold Award and a W3 Award by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA). Commissioned by Thermo Fisher Scientific and Grand Interactive, this app pushes the boundaries of the Internet of Things (IoT) by bringing real-time data directly from DNA-processing laboratory equipment into the hands of scientists on their mobile devices. The Davey awards are run by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts(AIVA). With nearly 4,000 entries from across the US and around the world, the Davey Awards honor the finest creative work from the best small firms, agencies and companies worldwide. Here it is on Google Play.

The app was also a finalist for a Xammy. The Xammys are awarded by Xamarin, the company who built the cross-platform technology we used to create the app. Our award finalist video opened the entire Xamarin Evolve 2014 Conference. What an honor to see our work up on the big screens to kick off this week-long epic mobile conference!

The app provides a suite of functionality ranging from training videos, a full e-commerce experience with lab product details, specs, images, and downloadable PDFs, and a specialized calculator for creating properly balanced solutions for use in the featured lab equipment. The pièce de résistance is the live lab interface empowering the user to log directly into thermal cycling devices, ProFlex™ and SimpliAmp™, to check on their status and temperature. These devices, solutions, and mobile interface are used to conduct lab experiments, replicating a single piece of DNA into thousands to millions of copies of that DNA sequence. The app is used in cancer diagnosis and research as well as studies in genetics.

The project solution has a core project which contains common code such as the data layer interface to the web services. Platform-specific projects contain the UI for Android and iOS respectively.